This award is presented to a current or past member of the Women’s District of Columbia Golf Association who, through extraordinary accomplishments in the game of golf, has exemplified the best aspects of the game – honor, sportsmanship, and competition – and has served as an inspiration to us all. The Lifetime Achievement Award was instituted in 2005 at the request of a number of members who felt we should have an award to recognize outstanding players in the WDCGA.
Award Recipients
2017, Mimi Hoffman
The lifetime achievement award is presented to a member of the WDCGA who, through extraordinary accomplishments in the game of golf, has exemplified the best aspects of the game – honor, sportsmanship, and competition – AND HAS SERVED AS AN INSPIRATION TO US ALL.
In 2017, we have selected an awesome individual with an amazing story and who is such an inspiration to us all. This individual has won many awards including: our WDCGA Senior Championship, the Virginia Women’s amateur, Virginia Senior Amateur, Maryland Senior Amateur, and her Club Championship over 15 times. She has qualified for over 13 USGA Championships and has represented the State of Virginia in 3 USGA State Team competitions.
Her golf achievements go on and on and are inspirational to us all. However, the truly inspirational part of this story is the battles she fought in achieving her goals. She had her first back operation in 2006 to fix a bulging herniated disk. In 2009, her right ankle was operated on and in 2013 her left ankle started to go bad, it was broken, fractured and collapsed. A disk in her lower back was also herniated. In 2013 she had 3 operations, one on her back and 2 on her ankle. The following season she was the second person in VSGA history to hold both the senior amateur title as well as the senior stroke play title. In 2016, her back started bothering her again and she had two herniated bulging disks just below the disk that was operated on in 2013. She had a great summer overcoming the pain and winning the VSGA Senior Women’s Amateur for the 4th time. Last year, the same day as our luncheon she once again had her back operated on. This time, she was a sneeze away from severing her spine. She was told she would not be able to play for a year. They were wrong. She was back in April of this year, playing at her high competitive level. She came in second in the VSGA stroke play and was runner up in the VSGA Senior Amateur losing on the 18t hole. She won the North South Women’s Super Senior. And, to top it all off, she just recently found out she is, 2017 Virginia Senior Player of the Year. This is the 3rd time she was awarded the Senior Player of the Year in Virginia.
Her story is truly inspirational but that’s not the end of it. She is a UVA graduate with her masters in engineering. She has accomplished an unbelievable number of titles AND She works full time for Boeing. (At one time was an astronaut candidate). Currently she is the Program Manager for a Large Defense contract and is in charge of the East Coast Facility.
She has exemplified Honor and Sportsmanship in her everyday golf accomplishments. Her achievements from a competition standpoint are incredible on their own without even considering what she has gone through physically. She truly is an inspiration to us all. We are pleased and proud to present the WDCGA Lifetime Achievement Award to Marcia Cloverley Hoffman, whom we all know as Mimi Hoffman.
2014, Shelley Savage
At its Fall Luncheon on Wednesday, November 12th, the WDCGA awarded its Lifetime Achievement Award to Shelley Savage, Army Navy Country Club. This is only the second time this prestigious award has been presented. The following is the text of the presentation ceremony:
The lifetime achievement award is presented to a current or past member of the Women’s District of Columbia Golf Association who, through extraordinary accomplishments in the game of golf, has exemplified the best aspects of the game – honor, sportsmanship, competition – and has served as an inspiration to us all.
The Executive Board is pleased to consider deserving members for this “Lifetime” award even when we know those members have more wins to come. This is certainly the case with today’s honoree — the unanimous choice of the selection committee.
Today’s honoree has not only won more than her fair share of tournaments, she has also given back to the game. She served on the Virginia State Golf Association Women’s Division Board for five years – as a member-at-large in 2003; as vice president in 2004-2005; and as president in 2006-2007.
Her long list of playing accomplishments include:
- Virginia State Senior Women’s Amateur Champion in 2005 and 2012,
- Virginia State Senior Women’s Stroke Play Champion a record number four times -2005, 2006, 2008 and 2011
- First golfer to win the VSGA Senior Women’s Stroke and Senior Women’s Amateur titles in the same year – 2005
- VSGA Senior Women’s Golfer of the Year in 2005, 2006, 2011 and 2012
- A longtime member of the Virginia team at the Virginias-Carolinas Women’s Team Matches.
- She represented Virginia at the USGA State Team Championship in 1995, 1997, 2005 and 2011
- She competed in the USGA Senior Women’s Amateur Championship in 2009 and 2011
- WDCGA Senior Champion for three consecutive years – 2006, 2007 and 2008.
- Women’s Eastern Senior Champion – 2006.
- WDCGA Champion – a record number of 7 times – 1992 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2010, 2011.
Our honoree grew up in Michigan and still returns to visit her mother and brother.
She has a Masters in Nursing…and though I am not sure where she went to school, I would be surprised if it wasn’t the University of Michigan. She is a veteran of the United States Navy, where she served in the Nursing Corps. Her duty stations include Pensacola, Bethesda, Arlington, and Yokosuka, Japan. During Desert Storm she was aboard the hospital ship USS Comfort. She retired with the rank of Captain. She is currently a registered nurse at Virginia Hospital Center in outpatient surgery. If you still don’t know who our Honoree is, what if I said Position Alpha?
It is our honor and privilege to award the Women’s District of Columbia Golf Association’s Lifetime Achievement Award to Captain Shelley Savage.
2005, Marion Brown Booth
The following is a summary of Marion’s accomplishments as compiled by Joan Craver and presented at the 2005 Fall Luncheon by WDCGA President Jan Crichton
Marion’s participation in golf competitions spans seven decades, from the 1930’s to the present. One of her first WDCGA competitions that she participated in was held in 1935 at Beaver Dam (the old PG and now Woodmore CC) which she won. It was called the “Duffer” tournament.
1936
At the age of 17, she played in the National Championship at Canoe Brook Country Club in Summit NJ. In the same year she was the Medallist in the Middle Atlantic Women’s Championship held at Indian Spring CC. She lost in the semi-final round, on the 19th hole.
In 1936 she won the Corby Cup for the first time. As the story goes, she had one of the later tee times, playing towards the end of the field. Many assumed that a certain Mrs. Marr would be the winner, who shot a 76 and was sitting in one of the white lawn chairs along with many others, waiting for the field to complete the tournament. A Caddie declared that there was some young kid out on the course shooting lights out. That KID was Marion who turned in a score of 75, beating out Mrs. Marr.
She won The Corby Cup again, 32 years later in 1968. Ironically enough, she sunk a 10- foot putt on the first hole of a playoff defeating a fellow Manor member, a youngster by the name of Pat Tyrell.
1937
She played in the Mason Dixon Championship losing to Patty Berg, 4 &3. She went on to win the consolation flight.
I1938, she had a very remarkable year.
Locally
June, she won the WDCGA Championship, defeating Helen Dittweiler. October she won the Middle Atlantic Championship at Rodgers Forge Club in Baltimore again defeating Helen Dittweiler 2 &1. She set the course record (77) in doing so. Helen shot 79 and later turned Pro.
Nationally
At the 43rd Women’s Amateur held in Darien, Connecticut she defeated Glena Collett Vare, a five time US Champion and Curtis Cup Team Member. She lost her next match on the 23rd hole to Maureen Orcott Crew, another member of the Curtis Cup Team. She also had the opportunity to play with the great athlete, Babe Didrikson Zaharias. She was the Guest of Honor at the NBC-WMAL closing day tournament, an affiliated WDCGA event. She also was honored at a Testimonial Dinner held at Manor Country Club, receiving a diamond and sapphire ring and bracelet.
1939
She won the Phyllis Keeler Miller Tournament, which had 123 competitors, in a playoff. She shot an 81.
She has won the numerous local Cup Tournaments far too many to mention.
Club Championships
In the years spanning 1936-2002 Marion won the Women’s Championship at Manor Country Club NINE times. She was a finalist this year and lost on the 19th Hole to Barbara Dimaio. She also won the Women’s Championship at Indian Spring Country Club numerous times in the early days of her career, often holding both titles in the same years.
She attended George Washington University and the University of Maryland.
She took time off from competitive golf to raise her children, some of which are here today.
More recently Marion was a 2002 Maryland State Amateur Flight winner. In 2005 she was the Super Senior Champion in the Maryland State Senior Championship. She is the current Handicap Chairman at Manor Country Club, a position she has held for a number of years.
She is never too busy to help a new golfer, or give words of encouragement, on and off the golf course. She is still going strong, and is an inspiration and HERO to all of us who have the privilege of knowing her.